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New Living Translation

Job 4:20

They are alive in the morning but dead by evening, gone forever without a trace.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Dream;   Faith;   Immortality;   Life;   Man;   Wisdom;   The Topic Concordance - Man;   Perishing;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Trance;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Greatness of God;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Job;   Smith Bible Dictionary - El'iphaz;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
They are smashed to pieces from dawn to dusk;they perish forever while no one notices.
Hebrew Names Version
Between morning and evening they are destroyed. They perish forever without any regarding it.
King James Version
They are destroyed from morning to evening: they perish for ever without any regarding it.
English Standard Version
Between morning and evening they are beaten to pieces; they perish forever without anyone regarding it.
New Century Version
Between dawn and sunset many people are broken to pieces; without being noticed, they die and are gone forever.
New English Translation
They are destroyed between morning and evening; they perish forever without anyone regarding it.
Amplified Bible
'Between morning and evening they are broken in pieces and destroyed; Unobserved and unnoticed, they perish forever.
New American Standard Bible
'Between morning and evening they are broken in pieces; Unregarded, they perish forever.
World English Bible
Between morning and evening they are destroyed. They perish forever without any regarding it.
Geneva Bible (1587)
They be destroyed from the morning vnto the euening: they perish for euer, without regarde.
Legacy Standard Bible
Between morning and evening they are broken in pieces;Unobserved, they perish forever.
Berean Standard Bible
They are smashed to pieces from dawn to dusk; unnoticed, they perish forever.
Contemporary English Version
Born after daybreak, you die before nightfall and disappear forever.
Complete Jewish Bible
shattered between morning and evening; they perish forever, and no one takes notice.
Darby Translation
From morning to evening are they smitten: without any heeding it, they perish for ever.
Easy-to-Read Version
From dawn to sunset people are destroyed. They die—gone forever—and no one even notices.
George Lamsa Translation
They shall be afflicted from morning to evening, that they may not dwell for ever; yea, they shall perish.
Good News Translation
We may be alive in the morning, but die unnoticed before evening comes.
Lexham English Bible
Between morning and evening they are destroyed; without anyone regarding it they perish forever.
Literal Translation
They are shattered from morning till evening; they perish forever with no one regarding.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
They shalbe destroyed from the mornynge vnto the euenynge: yee they shall perish, or euer they be awarre:
American Standard Version
Betwixt morning and evening they are destroyed: They perish for ever without any regarding it.
Bible in Basic English
Between morning and evening they are completely broken; they come to an end for ever, and no one takes note.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
They shalbe smitten from the morning vnto the euening: yea they shall perishe for euer, when no man regardeth them.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
Betwixt morning and evening they are shattered; they perish for ever without any regarding it.
King James Version (1611)
They are destroyed from morning to euening: they perish for euer, without any regarding it.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And from the morning to evening they no longer exist: they have perished, because they cannot help themselves.
English Revised Version
Betwixt morning and evening they are destroyed: they perish for ever without any regarding it.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Fro morewtid til to euentid thei schulen be kit doun; and for no man vndurstondith, thei schulen perische with outen ende.
Update Bible Version
Between morning and evening they are destroyed: They perish forever without any regarding it.
Webster's Bible Translation
They are destroyed from morning to evening: they perish for ever without any regarding [it].
New King James Version
They are broken in pieces from morning till evening; They perish forever, with no one regarding.
New Life Bible
Between morning and evening they are destroyed. Without anyone seeing it they become lost forever.
New Revised Standard
Between morning and evening they are destroyed; they perish forever without any regarding it.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Betwixt morning and evening, are they broken in pieces, With none to save, they utterly perish:
Douay-Rheims Bible
From morning till evening they shall be cut down: and because no one understandeth, they shall perish for ever.
Revised Standard Version
Between morning and evening they are destroyed; they perish for ever without any regarding it.
Young's Literal Translation
From morning to evening are beaten down, Without any regarding, for ever they perish.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
'Between morning and evening they are broken in pieces; Unobserved, they perish forever.

Contextual Overview

12 "This truth was given to me in secret, as though whispered in my ear. 13 It came to me in a disturbing vision at night, when people are in a deep sleep. 14 Fear gripped me, and my bones trembled. 15 A spirit swept past my face, and my hair stood on end. 16 The spirit stopped, but I couldn't see its shape. There was a form before my eyes. In the silence I heard a voice say, 17 ‘Can a mortal be innocent before God? Can anyone be pure before the Creator?' 18 "If God does not trust his own angels and has charged his messengers with foolishness, 19 how much less will he trust people made of clay! They are made of dust, crushed as easily as a moth. 20 They are alive in the morning but dead by evening, gone forever without a trace. 21 Their tent-cords are pulled and the tent collapses, and they die in ignorance.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

destroyed: Heb. beaten in pieces, 2 Chronicles 15:6, *marg

from morning: Isaiah 38:12, Isaiah 38:13

they perish: Job 14:14, Job 16:22, Psalms 39:13, Psalms 92:7

without: Job 18:17, Job 20:7, 2 Chronicles 21:20, Psalms 37:36, Proverbs 10:7

Reciprocal: Ecclesiastes 12:7 - dust Luke 8:42 - and she

Cross-References

Genesis 4:2
Later she gave birth to his brother and named him Abel. When they grew up, Abel became a shepherd, while Cain cultivated the ground.
Genesis 4:4
Abel also brought a gift—the best portions of the firstborn lambs from his flock. The Lord accepted Abel and his gift,
Genesis 4:5
but he did not accept Cain and his gift. This made Cain very angry, and he looked dejected.
Genesis 4:9
Afterward the Lord asked Cain, "Where is your brother? Where is Abel?" "I don't know," Cain responded. "Am I my brother's guardian?"
Genesis 4:10
But the Lord said, "What have you done? Listen! Your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground!
Genesis 4:11
Now you are cursed and banished from the ground, which has swallowed your brother's blood.
Genesis 4:12
No longer will the ground yield good crops for you, no matter how hard you work! From now on you will be a homeless wanderer on the earth."
Genesis 4:21
His brother's name was Jubal, the first of all who play the harp and flute.
Genesis 25:27
As the boys grew up, Esau became a skillful hunter. He was an outdoorsman, but Jacob had a quiet temperament, preferring to stay at home.
John 8:44
For you are the children of your father the devil, and you love to do the evil things he does. He was a murderer from the beginning. He has always hated the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

They are destroyed from morning to evening,.... That is, those that dwell in houses of clay, before described; the meaning is, that they are always exposed to death, and liable to it every day they live; not only such who are persecuted for the sake of religion, but all men in common, for of such are both the text and context; who have always the seeds of mortality and death in them, that is continually working in them; and every day, even from morning to evening, are innumerable instances of the power of death over men; and not only some there are, whose sun rises in the morning and sets at evening, who are like grass in the morning, gay, and green, and by evening cut down and withered, live but a day, and some not that, but even it is true of all men, comparatively speaking, they begin to die the day they begin to live; so that the wise man takes no notice of any intermediate time between a time to be born and a time to die, Ecclesiastes 3:2; so frail and short is the life of man; his days are but as an hand's breadth,

Psalms 39:5;

they perish for ever: which is not to be understood of the second or eternal death which some die; for this is not the case of all; those that believe in Christ shall not perish for ever, but have everlasting life; but this respects not only the long continuance of men under the power of death until the resurrection, which is not contradicted by thus expression; but it signifies that the dead never return to this mortal life again, at least the instances are very rare; their families, friends, and houses, that knew them, know them no more; they return no more to their worldly business or enjoyments, see Job 7:9;

without any regarding [it]; their death; neither they themselves nor others, expecting it so soon, and using no means to prevent it, and which, if made use of, would not have availed, their appointed time being come; or "without putting" k, either without putting light into them, as Sephorno, which can only be true of some; or with out putting the hand, either their own or another's, to destroy them, being done by the hand of God, by a distemper of his sending, or by one providence or another; or without putting the heart to it, which comes to the sense of our version; though death is so frequent every day, yet it is not taken notice of; men do not lay it to heart, so as to consider of their latter end, and repent of their sins, and reform from them, that they may not be their ruin; and this is and would be the case of all men, were it not for the grace of God.

k מבלי משים "propter non ponentem", Montanus; "sub. manum", Codurcus; "cor", R. Levi, Jarchi, Mercerus, Piscator, Michaelis.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

They are destroyed from morning to evening - Margin, “beaten in pieces.” This is nearer to the Hebrew. The phrase “from morning to evening” means between the morning and the evening; that is, they live scarcely a single day; see the notes at Isaiah 38:12. The idea is, not the continuance of the work of destruction from morning to evening; but that man’s life is excecdingly short, so short that he scarce seems to live from morning to night. What a beautiful expression, and how true! How little qualified is such a being to sit in judgment on the doings of the Most High!

They perish forever - Without being restored to life. They pass away, and nothing is ever seen of them again!

Without any regarding it - Without its being noticed. How strikingly true is this! What a narrow circle is affected by the death of a man, and how soon does even that circle cease to be affected! A few relatives and friends feel it and weep over the loss; but the mass of men are unconcerned. It is like taking a grain of sand from the sea-shore, or a drop of water from the ocean. There is indeed one less, but the place is soon supplied, and the ocean rolls on its tumultuous billows as though none had been taken away. So with human life. The affairs of people will roll on; the world will be as busy, and active, and thoughtless as though we had not been; and soon, O how painfully soon to human pride, will our names be forgotten! The circle of friends will cease to weep, and then cease to remember us. The last memorial that we lived, will be gone. The house that we built, the bed on which we slept, the counting-room that we occupied, the monuments that we raised, the books that we made, the stone that we directed to be placed over our graves, will all be gone; and the last memento that we ever lived, will have faded away! How vain is man! How vain is pride! How foolish is ambition! How important the announcement that there is another world, where we may live on forever!

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Job 4:20. They are destroyed from morning to evening — In almost every moment of time some human being comes into the world, and some one departs from it. Thus are they "destroyed from morning to evening."

They perish for ever — יאבדו yobedu; peribunt, they pass by; they go out of sight; they moulder with the dust, and are soon forgotten. Who regards the past generation now among the dead?

Isaiah has a similar thought, Isaiah 57:1: "The righteous perisheth, and No MAN LAYETH IT TO HEART: and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come." Some think that Isaiah borrowed from Job; this will appear possible when it has been proved, which has never yet been done, that the writer of this book flourished before Isaiah. If, however, he borrowed the above thought, it must be allowed that it has been wondrously improved by coming through his hands.


 
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